Coping with chronic pain: In-depth interviews with children suffering from Juvenile Chronic Arthritis

Abstract

This study examined from the perspective of children with Juvenile Chronic Arthritis, their experiences of coping with chronic pain in daily life. In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 children (6–17 years). The grounded theory method was applied for analysing the taped and transcribed interviews. Seven descriptive categories were grounded in the data, labelled (1) “controlling strategies”, (2) “avoidance strategies”, (3) “cognitive strategies”, (4) “compliance with the treatment”, (5) “seeking social support”, and (6) “recovering”. A core category was identified and labelled “making me different”. The children seem to be caught in a dilemma. In one way the chosen coping strategy reduces chronic pain and in another way the strategy increases stress and feelings of being different from non-disabled peers. Our results indicate the great importance of social support from the children's environment.